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Monster Jam World Finals 4
Monster Jam World Finals 4 was held on March 22, 2003 at Sam Boyd Stadium. This would be the first World Finals shown on SPEED, the first World Finals in which Tom Meents didn't get at least one championship, and the first World Finals in which Dennis Anderson did not compete, as he was recovering from a broken hand. Pablo Huffaker would compete for him in Grave Digger. Such an incident would not happen again until 14 years later at Monster Jam World Finals 18, in which Dennis would not compete due to internal injuries, except in this case, Tom Meents would also be out due to an injury. A good amount of fans who were in attendance had negative thoughts on this event comparing it from the year before, due to a lot of controversy and disappointments that took place at World Finals 4. Track Layout The racing track was the same as last years, with the freestyle track including two buses facing longways in the center, a rail car and a 30 foot tall trailer on the right side, a delivery truck and an RV added to the right lane, a rock pile and a garbage truck on the left side, and a bus and an RV on a flatbed trailer in the left lane. Lineup #Avenger - Jim Koehler #Blacksmith - Carl Van Horn #Black Stallion - Michael Vaters #Blue Thunder - Lyle Hancock (Last World Finals appearance) #Bounty Hunter - Jimmy Creten #El Toro Loco - Lupe Soza (World Finals debut) #Grave Digger 16 - Pablo Huffaker #Gunslinger - Scott Hartsock #Madusa - Madusa #Maximum Destruction - Tom Meents #Monster Mutt - Todd Frolik (World Finals debut; only World Finals appearance) #Power Forward - Chad Fortune #SoBe - Kathy Winston (World Finals debut) #Spider-Man - Bobby Zee (World Finals debut) #Sudden Impact - John Seasock #Wolverine - Brian Barthel World Finals Racing Racing Round 1 Bounty Hunter '''vs. Power Forward '''Madusa '''vs. Blue Thunder '''Spider Man '''vs. SoBe '''Black Smith '''vs. El Toro Loco Grave Digger vs. '''Maximum Destruction Gunslinger '''vs. Black Stallion (crashes) '''Sudden Impact '''vs. Monster Mutt '''Wolverine '''vs. Avenger Racing Round 2 '''Bounty Hunter '''vs. Madusa Spider Man vs. '''Black Smith Maximum Destruction vs. Gunslinger Sudden Impact vs. Wolverine Racing Semi Finals Gunslinger (blown engine) vs. Wolverine ''' '''Bounty Hunter '''vs. Black Smith Championship Race Bounty Hunter vs. '''Wolverine Freestyle Order # Blacksmith # Sudden Impact # Wolverine # SoBe # Power Forward # El Toro Loco # Monster Mutt # Spider-Man # Avenger # Madusa # Black Stallion # Bounty Hunter # Blue Thunder # Grave Digger # Maximum Destruction Freestyle Scores #'Avenger - 37' #El Toro Loco - 36 #Blue Thunder - 34 #Madusa - 32 #Black Stallion - 30 #Power Forward - 29 #Sudden Impact - 27 #Black Smith - 24 #SoBe - 22 #Spider Man - 22 #Grave Digger - 20 #Wolverine - 16 #Bounty Hunter - 14 #Maximum Destruction - 13 #Monster Mutt - 9 #Gunslinger - DNF Encore Grave Digger, Maximum Destruction 2, and two Blue Thunders hit the track. Other Rewards * Rookie of the Year: Rick Raab, American Guardian & George Balhan, Spider-Man * Extreme Air: Scott Hartsock, Gunslinger * Crash Madness: Dennis Anderson, Grave Digger * Save of the Year: Dennis Anderson, Grave Digger * Improved Team: David Rappach, Rap Attack & David Smith, King Krunch * Team of the Year: Racesource Race Team, Pablo, Tina & Ryan Huffaker, Carl Van Horn, Grave Digger & Blacksmith * Special Recognition for Innovations in the Sport: Patrick Enterprises (Samson), Racesource Race Team (Grave Digger & Blacksmith), 2Xtreme Racing (Bounty Hunter & Scarlet Bandit) & Deist Safety * Special Recognition Award: Special T Tracks, Pro Tracks, & Dirt Wurx * Sponsor of the Year: Ford * Freestyle of the Year: Tom Meents, Maximum Destruction * Sportsman of the Year: Rick Disharoon, Backdraft Trivia * This Monster Jam World Finals had the fewest crashes of any Monster Jam World Finals event; only four crashes in total (one in racing and three in freestyle). * This was SoBe's only World Finals appearance (as Kathy Wintson transferred to Team Suzuki for next year's World Finals). * This was the first world finals where a non-FELD owned truck, which was Avenger driven by Jim Koehler, won a World Finals championship. * This will be the first World Finals that Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction end his freestyle run early. He was coming from the left side (normally drivers come in from the right side), went for a flat bedded motor home that was right in front of him when he was entering, it went straight up and down, and the left side got caught in the motor home and got stuck. He tried getting it off but blew the transmission. ** Another first for Tom is the first time he was defeated in racing. The man he lost to was Scott Hartsock in Gunslinger. Tom had a 13 race winning streak from round 1 of World Finals 1 to round 1 of This World Finals. * Pablo Huffaker was planned to drive Dennis' Grave Digger 14. Pablo could not reach the controls well, and ended up crashing through Thunder Alley during practice runs. As a result, Pablo drove Grave Digger 16 instead for the rest of the show. He would drive 14 during the encore though. * Dennis Anderson was in the broadcast booth for both the racing and freestyle shows on SPEED. * This would be the final TV appearance of Lyle Hancock and Todd Frolik as both retired after this event. * This would be the final World Finals event to have Spider-Man and Wolverine, before 2010 when Spider Man returned and 2012 with Wolverine. **Additionally, this was the only World Finals event to have the original versions of both Marvel trucks compete for both racing and freestyle. *This was the first World Finals where Dennis Anderson did not compete. *This was the only World Finals appearance of Todd Frolik as a competitor. *This was the first World Finals in which the winning truck would finish the full amount of allotted time, and not roll over. *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was intended to debut at this event. With the body not being ready, the debut was postponed. *Many fans felt Lupe Soza and El Toro Loco should have won the freestyle competition. *This was the first World Finals to feature the slot machine containing balloons inside, Blacksmith driver Carl Van Horn would be the first truck to hit the slot machine. Non Competing trucks *Second Blue Thunder *Blue Thunder (Ride Truck) *Bulldozer *Demolition Man *Destroyer (Ride Truck) *Equalizer *Grave Digger 14 *High Roller *Inferno *Little Tiger *Second Maximum Destruction *Ragin Steel *Scarlet Bandit *Super Trucker Category:Events Category:Las Vegas Category:World Finals Category:2003 events